Sign letters and method of making same



Dec. 22 1925- 1,566,883

V. N. KLITHOLM SIGN LETTERS AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed Sept. 28, 1925 34%, My wrv'zqys Patented Bee. 22, 1925.

PATENT VICTOR N. KLITHOLM, 0F XVILSON, CONNECTICUT.

SIGN LETTERS AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME.

Application filed September 28, 1925.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VIo'ron N. KLITHQLM, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of Wilson, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have in vented new and useful Improvements in Sign Letters and lvlethods of Making Same, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a method for the production of letters or characters for use on signs or other pictorial representations, with particular reference to raised or three dimensional characters of a type commonly covered with gold leaf. The present practice is to out these characters out of metal and for this purpose dies are absolutely necessary. The reason for this is as follows. The characters are cut from very thin sheets of metal. If it were merely a case of cutting out flat'eharacters a die would be unnecessary. But the character must be given a raised effect. In order to do this depressions must be formed along the outer edge and center line of the various parts of the character said center line depression being formed on a side of the character, opposite the outer edge depression and preferably on thefront side of the character. These depressions or grooves may be applied before or after the letter is cut out but in either case an attempt to apply these grooves without the aid of a die would result in warping of the metal. This is particularly true where there are curves in the character, and it is very undesirable since the character must lie fiat on the sign or support upon which it is received. Another disadvantage in the use of metal lies in the fact that gold leaf will not adhere to metal with the readiness and permanence desired.

This invention has for its general objects to overcome the above ditliculties, and in particular to provide a method for producing raised or grooved characters without the use of dies and also to provide a material for these characters sufficiently pliable to readily adapt itself to any surface for ready and easy mounting and retaining gold leaf with an adhesive force and permanence heretofore unknown.

These objects are attained in the following manner. It is proposed to make the characters of celluloid or any like material such as materials which have cellulose as a base. Celluloid is an elastic material and as such may easily be shaped. The letters Serial No. 58,977.

or characters are sketched or stenciled upon a thin sheet of celluloid or its equivalent. The letters or characters are then cut out and grt'iovcs or depressions are formed therein with a pointedinstrument. These grooves give a raised or embossed appearance to the characters. It is to be understood of course that: the characters may, if desired, be grooved before being cut out. From the viewport of this invention it is immaterial whether the grooving be done before or after cutting out the characters.

Such a method of producing charactcn-s possesses a tremendous advantage from the viewpoint of economy and expediency. It means that a sign painter is nolonger dependent upon costly dies for the formation of his letters. It means furthermore that all the work can be done right on the job. All that is necessary is enough celluloid or like. material in sheet form, shears for cut ting out the characters, a pointed instrw ment for forming the grooves, and suilicient gold leaf to cover the characters. The characters may be formed freehand, or a stencil may be used. This means a saving in time, money and equipment.

Referring now to the annexed drawing forming a part of this application and in which like reference numerals refer to like parts.

Figure 1 is a plan view of a letter stenciled .or sketched on a sheet of celluloid or like material and partially cut out therefrom;

Figure 2 is a plan View of the letter in Figure 1, said letter being wholly cut out and grooves partially formedtherein, a portion of the groove-forming instrument being shown;

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2, the letter being completely grooved and the gold leaf being shown as partially applied; and

Figure 4 is a view on the line l i of ure 3 showing the cross-sectional configura tion of the completed letter.

Referring in detail to the drawing wherein is shown, for the purpose of illustration. a method of producing characters which falls within the scope of this invention. The. character 2, in this case a letter, is first outlined by stencilling, tracing or any desired method, upon a thin sheet of elastic material of the type which has cellulose for a base, as for example, celluloid. The letter is then cut out by the use of a cutting instrument such as shears. When the letter is entirely out out, depressions or grooves 3 are formed therein with a pointed instrument 4 as shown in Fig. 2. These grooves follow the outer edge portions of the various parts of the letter and causes a slight bulging of the material intermediate the grooves 3. The groove 3 is now formed on a side of the letter opposite t-he side containing the grooves 3 substantially following the center line of the various parts of the letter along the apex of the trough formed by the grooves 3 so that the bulging of the letter is accentuated and made relatively permanent as shown in Fig. 4, thus giving the letter the permanently raised effect desired. It is to be understood that the grooves may be made before or after the letter has been cut out, this invention consisting in the method of making the groove regardless of when it is made. Celluloid and similar materials, unlike metals, may be grooved in the above-described manner without material warping because of their natural elasticity. Furthermore even if the celluloid does slightly warp byinexpert tracing of the character it is sufficiently pliable to conform to a flat surface without any tendency to loosen the gold leaf While the warping of metal causes wrinkles at points in its surface and such distortion that the adhesive force between the metal and gold leaf is broken.

After the letter has been completely cut outiand grooved, the gold leaf 5 is applied as illustrated in Fig. 3. As previously stated, there are certain characteristics inherent in the gold leaf and celluloid or its equivalent which permit the gold leaf to adhere to the celluloid with an adhesive force not possible with metal.

The 'letter sand characters when completed are adapted to be fastened to a support to be used for pictorial representation such as a sign or inscription. The manner of forming the completed sign comprises no part of this invention and is too well known to require description here.

It is designed to include within the scope of the invention all departures from, and modificationsof the herein described method component elements of which are concave in cross-sections, characterized by cutting the letter from sheet celluloid and by moving an instrument longitudinally of each element in pressure Contact with the central portion of the element transversely flexing each element of the letter progressively along its length to give the element a permanent concave set without substantially distorting the shape of the letter outline.

3. A method of forming characters which consists in outlining said characters on a sheet of celluloid, cutting said characters therefrom, grooving said characters to give them an embossed appearance, and, then covering said characters with gold leaf.

4. The method of making characters which comprises forming said character from sheet material, and moving an instrument along the outer edge portions of said character, so that the surface of the character is bulged, and then moving an instrument centrally of the bulged surface whereby apermanent raised effect is produced.

5. The method of making characters which comprises forming said characters from sheet celluloid and moving an instrument along the outer edge portions of one side of said character so that the surface of the character is bulged and then moving an instrument centrally of the bulged surface on the opposite side of the character whereby a permanent raised effect is produced.

, Signed by me at Wilson, Connecticutthis 19th day of September 1925.

VICTOR N. KLITI-IOLM. 

